Railway signaling apparatus.



No. 668,819. Patented Fab. 26, 190i. W. HUMEZ.

RAILWAY SIGNALING APPARATUS.

(Application filed Oct. 6, 1898.- (No Model.) 3 Sheets8heet l.

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Patented Fab. 26, mm. W. HUME. RAILWAY SIGNALING APPARATUS.

(Application filed on. e was. (No Model.) 3 Sheets-4M 2.

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No. 668,8!9. Patontsd Fb. 26, MN. w. HUME.

RAILWAY SIGNALING APPARATUS.

(Application filed Oct. 6, 1898.) (No Modal.) 3 Sheats-Sheat 3 NT STATESPATENT OFFICE.

WASHINGTON HUME, OF NEW BROAD STREET, COUNTY OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

RAILWAY SIGNALING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 668,819, dated February26, 1901.

Application filed October 6, 1898. Serial No. 692,843. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Keit known that I, WASHING-TON HUME, a subject of the Queen of GreatBritain and he land, residing at New Broad Street, in the county ofLondon, England, have invented Improvements in Railway SignalingApparatus, of which the followingis a specification.

This invention of improvements in railwaysignals has reference to meanswhereby railway trains or engines can cause their approach to beindicated at signal boxes or stations. The means I employ, ashereinafter explained, are such thatin an automatic manner, by means ofan appliance carried by an engine or some vehicle of a train, a signalor indicator will be electrically operated in such wise as to convey tothose in charge of a signal box or station not only the fact that atrain is approaching, but also which train it is according to itstrain-number, the object being to obviate or greatly lessen theliability to mistake one train or engine for another even when the trainsignaled is behind time and out of its order on the service time-table,and the system is such as to be especially useful in dark and foggyweather.

In describing the nature of my invention I will assume that the audiblesignals are to be produced by bells; but it will be understood that theword bell is to be taken to include any other equivalent and suitablesound-producing device.

For causing the approach of a train or of an engine to be indicated at asignal box or station I provide a number (conveniently ten) of pairs ofbars of material that is a good conductor of electricity. The two barsof each pair are arranged parallel to one another, but are insulatedfrom one another, and the several pairs of bars are arranged side byside (but insulated one pair from another) in the space between the tworails of the track and parallel with such rails. Each pair of bars isconnected with a sign al-bell common to the entire set and also with aseparate trainnumber indicator located in the signal box or station andwith an attention-bell which is com mon to all the pairs of bars and islocated outside the tracks opposite the bars, these bars being for thepurpose of signaling to the person in charge of the signal box orstation.

On the locomotive or on some other one of the vehicles of a train Iprovide an adjustable brush or equivalent whereby to bridge the spacebetween the two bars of apair when that part of the train carrying suchdevice is passing over the particular pair of bars connected with theindicating devices abovementioned intended to indicate the approach ofthe particular train or locomotive.

In carrying out my invention each pair of bars may conveniently besupported on and secured to two or more cast-iron brackets bolted to thesleepers, and in order to insulate from one another the two barsconstituting a pair, the heads of the brackets and the bolt securing thebars to them might be dipped in or coated with some non-conductingsubstance, or, alternatively, loose liners for the bracket-heads orsleeves for the bolts of any suitable non-conducting material might beused.

An arrangement according to this invention is illustrated, by way ofexample, in the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 shows diagrammatically a crosssection through ten pairs of bars1 2 3 4: 5 6 7 8 9 10, such as above mentioned, and through therailway-rails, and it also shows the connections by wires with theattention and call bells, batteries, and train-indicators, as well as anend elevation of part of a vehicle with brush-carrier applied thereto.Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic plan of the same arrangements drawn to asmaller scale. Fig. 3 is a partial end elevation, partly in section,showing toa larger scale than Figs. 1 and 2 a portion of a buffer-beamwith carrier contact-brush and a pair of conducting-bars and theirsupport; and Fig. 4 is an elevation, partly in section, of the likeparts in a plane at right angles to Fig. 3, the section being on theline 00a: of Fig. 3. Figs. 4 and 4 are detail views showingmodifications.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, it will be seen that one bar of each of theten pairs (marked, respectively, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10) is connected upto a common single wire W, which passes through the attention-bell,which is indicated at N and is located immediately alongside the trackin front of the bars for the purpose of calling the attention of thosein charge of a train or locomotive during foggy weather orat night tothe arrival of the train or locomotive at the bars and to warn them thatthey are approaching a station or signal. The wire W is connectedthrough a battery A* and call-bell 13* to ten train-indicators T T T T TT T T T T (all situated in 1 the signal box or cabin.) The remaining barof each of the ten pairs is connected by a separate and independent wirewith its corresponding indicator in the signal-box. The ten wires aremarked, respectively, X X X X X X X X? X X The object of the call-bell13* is to advise the signalman of the approach of a train.

The pairs of bars and their corresponding indicators are intended to beused consecutively by the trains, beginning with No. 1 and proceedingonward up to No. 10, after which the operation can be repeated as oftenas necessary, beginning again at No. 1. Conveniently the pairs of barsmarked 1 might be used to signal trains Nos. 1,11, 21, and so on, (eachsuch train carrying a correspondingly-located brush,) while the bars 2would be used to signal trains Nos. 2, 12, 22, and so on up to anyrequired number of trains, the brushes being correspondingly arranged onthe trains."

The buffer-beam Aof the locomotive, Fig. 3, is drilled to templet totake the holding-bolts for securing a vertical brush-carrierB at will ineither of ten different lateral positions corresponding to those of thepairs of bars mounted 1 to 10, inclusive, so that the brush can beplaced in the proper position corresponding to the number of theparticular train the engine is to draw. The brush D (which may be ofbrass, gun-metal, or other suitable metal) is carried at the lower endof the carrier B. Thus it will be understood that with the holes spacedas above stated the carrier B can practically at a moments notice befixed in or shifted into the position that will correspond with anyparticular pair of bars the number of which will agree with the numberwhich the particular train bears in the service time-table, and it isnot needful to always use a given locomotive to draw a given train. Itis to be noted that the upper surfaces of the pairs of contactbars aredownwardly inclined at those ends the brush is intended to first touchin order that the brush may make contact and gradually rise up theinclines in a manner to close the circuit without shock. When the brushD by touching both bars of any pair at once closes the circuit, theattention and call bells N and E respectively, are caused to ring andthe corresponding indicator-flap isopened in the signal box or station,thus facilitating recognition of any particular train and obviating ormitigating liability to error.

Referring to Figs. 3 and 4, it will be seen that the brush D is shownhinged to the lower end of the carrier B and provided with a spiralspring K to insure contact. The brushcarrier comprises a couple ofangle-bars B B, (of suitable material, such as steel,) with aninterposed filling-piece (J, and E E are rivets that fasten B B and 0together. F F are holes for the bolts, whereby to fasten thebrush-carrier to the buffer beam A. From the description already givenit will be understood that such holes are to be equally spaced acrossthe butter-Mate A, so as to correspond With the spacing and number ofthe pairs of bars on the track and with the distance'center to center ofbolts F F. Some of them may be on one side of the d raw-gear and theremainder on the other side, provided the pairs of bars on the track becorrespondingly arranged. The lower portions B of the angle-bars B Bhave their side flanges gradually tapered off. (See Fig.3.) G is one ofseveral rivets at intervals to hold the portions B of the bars together.H is a block on trunnions to receive the thrust of the spring K, whichis adapted to cause the lever L, which is movable about a pin M and towhich the brush D is secured by bolts N, to press the brush against thecontacts. 0 is a washer with a knife-edge-like base to allow of theradial movement of the lever L. Instead of the spiral spring K, thetrunnion-block H, and the bolt J a V-shaped spring K might be arrangedbetween the angle bars (see Fig. 4 so that one end' bears against anabutment K carried thereby, and the other against the lever L, so as tocause the brush D to be pressed against the pair of contactbars, orinstead of either of the before -described arrangements the brush may becarried by a flat spring K Fig. 4 suitably fastened to the angle-bars.

In Fig. 3 a pair of contact-bars is shown in cross-section, the barsbeing marked, respectively, P and P. Their ends are tapered, as shown,or they may he downwardly bent. Q is a cast-iron pedestal 0r bracketbolted to the sleeper of the track for carrying the bars which are heldto the pedestal Q by bolts R. The thick heavy black lines at the top ofthe pedestal Q and around the ends of the bolt R represent thenon-conducting material necessary to insulate the bar P from the bar P.

In connection with each up and each down line there would be provided asignaling arrangement such as above described, the respective indicatorsof which at the signal box or station are distinctively marked and'grouped. At junctions each independent line would be similarly providedand the separate signaling arrangements would be marked, so as to avoidconfusion.

What I claim is 1. Railway signaling apparatus comprising pairs ofinsulated contacts arranged on the track, corresponding indicatingdevices located at a signal box or station, a source of electricity,electrical connections between each of said pairs of contacts, each ofsaid indicating devices and source of electricity, an audible signalingdevice located at said signal box or station, an audible signalingdevice located in proximity to said pairs of contacts, said audiblesignaling devices being adapted to operate each time a circuit iscompleted through any pair of said contacts, and a circuit-closingdevice carried by the vehicle whose approach is to be notified, andarranged to make contact with a prearranged pair of said contacts,substantially as described.

2. Railway signalingapparatus comprising longitudinal pairs of insulatedbars spaced apart across the track, corresponding trainnumber indicatorslocated at a signal boX or station, electrical connections between oneof the bars of each pair and one terminal of the correspondingtrain-indicator, an electric battery, an audible signaling devicelocated at said signal box or station, an audible signal- WASHINGTONHUME.

Witnesses:

F. CHIPPERFIELD, H. W. ALLISON.

